


therapy session

by acidicsuga



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Dissociation, Dream is in Prison, Family Dynamics, Gen, Manipulation, Overprotective Technoblade, Panic Attacks, Ranboo just wants to be left alone, Threats, Threats of Violence, no romantic relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:13:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29466300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidicsuga/pseuds/acidicsuga
Summary: techno finds ranboo in a bad state and when he finds out why he makes sure he never ends up like that again.dream pays the price for it.
Relationships: Ranboo & Technoblade, Ranboo & Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 381





	therapy session

"ranboo?" the voice echoed through the room, breaking the sheer panic that ranboo had found himself in.

the boy had crammed his lanky body into the smallest corner of his room and was full on sobbing as he tried his best to get the taunting voice out of his head—to save himself from ender-walking once again.

_"c'mon ranboo... your work isn't done."_

_"betray them all again. let me out."_

_"you can't trust yourself, ranboo. come get me."_

_"don't hide from me."_

_"let it take you ranboo."_

it'd been so long since the taunts that started his scalp ached from the constant pulling at his hair, his vision was blurry from the tears, and his mouth was dry. he needed water, but everything felt so out of reach and all he could bring himself to do was bury his face in his knees, which were scrunched up to his chest. never had someone who was so damn tall and lanky looked so damn small.

he had literally shoved himself between his wall and a chest that held some of his more prized possessions. it was the safest place he could think of in his panic and it was close when the voice began to call out to him.

_"i'm not done with you ranboo."_

those words sent another harsh sob from his lips and he opened his mouth to call out to techno, but the words didn't come. he felt absolutely paralyzed with fear.

what if he called techno up there and then he hurt him? what if dream wanted him to hurt techno?

"ranboo?" techno's voice came again, but this time it was softer and filled with concern. the man jogged across the room and crouched in front of him, careful not to touch him.

the last thing he wanted was to upset ranboo more than he already was. "ranboo, what's wrong? what's going on?"

the boy slowly looked up, thankful that techno had found him. he always hid when he was in this state. he always feared everyone around him, but something was telling him this was going to be different. techno had been playing more and more of a familial role in his life recently and now that he was crouched in front of him it only assured him that their friendship was real.

"i- i- help me," ranboo coughed out. his voice was raspy from screaming earlier on when no one was around—the sobs probably didn't help either.

no other words formed as he stared at techno. he didn't know what he wanted, but seeing techno's worried expression made him feel guilty. what did techno do to deserve having another head case on his hands?

"c'mere," techno mumbled, suddenly reaching forward and pulling ranboo towards him.

the next thing the boy knew he was sobbing into techno's chest as techno walked him over to his bed. they sat down on the edge and techno pulled him into a hug.

it was something phil used to do for him when he got like this. he always hated it in the moment, but he remembered it calming him down. it was helpful in keeping the fact that people cared at the forefront of his mind.

"whatever's going on we'll handle it okay?" techno said, staring down at the top of ranboo's head. his chest was already alight with anger towards whoever had done this to ranboo. he would do more than handle it.

when he got no response he knew ranboo just needed some time to relax. he could feel the boy physically shaking and clutching onto the edge of his armor and the hem of his cloak and it only fueled the fiery anger he was feeling.

someone had fucked up when they chose to mess with ranboo.

"whenever you're ready we can talk... take as long as you need, okay? i know what it's like," techno said softly.

never would anyone catch him dead in a situation like this, but when it came to family techno didn't care about appearances. ranboo's safety was his first priority now. he just needed to know what had happened. ranboo had gone out earlier that day so maybe someone hassled him?

something didn't add up. no one disliked ranboo to techno's knowledge so the whole situation only made techno feel more and more sick. what was his brother going through all this time?

sure, it wasn't until recently that they had gotten close, but with phil practically adopting ranboo it was hard for techno not to view him as a brother.

"you- you hear voices right?" ranboo asked.

techno barely heard him. his voice was raspy, quiet and muffled since he still had his head pressed against techno's shoulder, but the question rang loud and clear in techno's mind. ranboo was hearing the voices?

"yeah ranboo, i do," techno nodded. his voice had come out more shaky than intended, but he worried ranboo was hearing the same voices he was—the ones that always demanded blood. "are you hearing them too?"

"i'm hearing a voice," ranboo slowly pulled away from techno, hands still clasping the edges of his cloak as if he was worried techno would run off. "just one."

"is that what triggered the panic attack?" techno asked, reaching over to ranboo's bedside table and grabbing a bottle of water for the boy. with all the crying he had clearly been doing he had to be dehydrated. "the voice?"

ranboo nodded. he took the water and drank some of it and the whole time he was avoiding eye contact with techno. as far as he knew techno and dream were allies—friends even and he wasn't sure if techno would even believe him. "it wants me to do things."

"bad things?"

another nod.

techno stared at ranboo, wishing phil were there to tell him what to do or where to even start. he felt like he was looking at his past self in the mirror, but had no way to even comprehend fixing himself. "it's hard to ignore them isn't it?"

ranboo nodded again. he could feel the fog over his mind slowly fading away as techno talked to him, but before it felt like he was on the brink of fading into the ender-walking state where he would've been at the complete and utter mercy of dream. he couldn't let it get that bad, not anymore. "d-do your voices sound like someone you know?"

"someone i know?" techno hesitated. he had been hearing the voices for as long as he could remember and never had they sounded like someone he knew personally. "no... who's voice is it ranboo?"

there was clear hesitation in ranboo's eyes and techno could tell even without having made eye contact with his brother. "it's... it's dream."

techno tensed, eyes flicking to the door. he would be paying his old friend a visit in prison now, but he had to restrain himself from leaving ranboo right then and there. "it's dream's voice? what does he want you to do?"

ranboo's leg bounced anxiously. was this some sort of trap? would techno kill him if he answered wrong? was this whole thing some sick joke to lure him into a false sense of security?

techno could clearly see ranboo's anxiety building up so he gently set a hand on one of ranboo's where it was tightly grasping his cloak. "i'm not mad at you, ranboo. whatever dream is doing to you i'll handle it. i'll stop it, but i need to know what's going on."

ranboo looked at their hands for a long moment before carefully looking up and finally making eye contact with the man he had come to view as his older brother. this was someone he could trust and he had written that down over and over again in all his memory journals because he never wanted to forget it.

this was techno. techno would protect him. phil would protect him. those were the two things he was sure of now. the fuzziness in his mind was nearly gone now and all the self-loathing and doubt was going with it. he just needed to trust techno.

"when i hear his voice it lures me into this state," ranboo started, struggling to find the right words. would techno even understand the ender-walking state. "it's sort of like sleepwalking, but-but i follow his every command or so i think. it's called ender-walking."

"you don't remember anything from when you ender-walk?" techno asked, ensuring he was hearing everything right.

"no... i- i've apparently been trying to break him out of prison," ranboo sniffled, looking away from techno again. his mind was back on the contracts that sam had presented him. he had signed them and ruined them in a language he barely could recognize in his cognizant state. "sam showed me contracts that i edited when i apparently visited him. i must've been in the- the state because i don't remember any of it."

techno was carefully listening to everything he said, hanging on to every word to make sure he knew exactly what was going on. dream was practically possessing a member of his family. he didn't know how, he didn't know why, but he did know that dream had another thing coming if he thought he could get away with it.

"i'll take care of it. every time it happens from here on out tell me, okay? even if you're not even sure it's him just tell me," techno said softly. he hadn't spoken so carefully in years, but he needed to make sure he didn't upset ranboo more.

ranboo nodded and leaned back against the wall, his hands slowly letting go of techno's cloak. it felt good to finally have someone else in on the secret, but now he was more afraid than ever that dream would task him with something that would do more damage than anticipated. "can we- can we keep it between us?"

"you don't want phil to know?"

"not yet," ranboo admitted. he was afraid that his newest father-figure would abandoned him if he found out that he had been trying to break dream out of prison. it was irrational, but the fear still held firm.

"i won't tell him," techno assured him, giving the boy a small smile. he knew what he was like to be in ranboo's shoes in a way, but he was sure as hell going to make sure ranboo's stay in those shoes wasn't too long. "for now, try to get some rest. i'll stay with you and make sure you don't get up and try to leave in the state, okay?"

ranboo stared at him for a long moment, surprised that techno had offered him that. "okay."

with that ranboo lied down and turned his back to techno. it was nice to be stretched out again and not pressed back into a corner and even better to know that he would wake up in his own bed because techno was watching over him. he wouldn't get a chance to leave before techno snapped him out of it.

techno watched him lie down and then kicked his own shoes off, leaning himself back against ranboo's headboard so he'd have a comfortable way to sit while he let ranboo nap. maybe he wasn't the best at consoling people, but he could be there for them.

he could also beat the problems to a pulp.

perhaps techno's ways of dealing with his issues hadn't always been the greatest. violence wasn't the answer after all, but when he was sure of nothing else he could always be sure to hear the voices and their demand for blood.

sometimes he found it easier to give in to those demands than to ignore them and who could blame him?

today, he feared it would be one of those days where he let the voices have their fun—let them take control for a bit. with each step closer to the prison techno found himself thinking back on the events of the prior day. dream was manipulating his brother somehow someway and he was determined to put an end to it.

he had only recently learned about dream being in prison and he learned from ranboo himself, which made sense. who better to learn from than the very person who had been studying the damn place? the fact of the matter was dream was playing a dangerous game.

a dangerous game that he would lose no matter what.

it was almost terrifying to step inside the outer building of the prison. he was walking into a place where he very well could end up after today, but somehow the fact didn't bother him. as long as ranboo was okay he'd be okay.

the portal system to enter into the prison seemed to be a bit much in techno's opinion, but he wasn't one to complain. security was security. the one security measure he hadn't considered much was sam, the warden. he wasn't too familiar with the man, but he knew he was "taking care" of dream in there so there was a chance that he was involved with the mental torture his brother was undergoing. just a chance...

"welcome to the prison," sam commented as techno entered. he was standing at the desk, sword in hand ready to defend the place as if techno were going to break dream out.

"thanks... i take it you're the one caring for dream?" techno asked, hand resting on the hilt of his own sword. if he needed to fight his way through the prison he would.

"that's me. what's your relationship with dream?" sam asked, looking down at a few documents in front of him.

"we're... old friends you could say. he saved my life once," techno said, trying to gauge sam's reaction. the warden, however, didn't seem phased by the answer at all.

"current place of residence?"

"the arctic." he answered without hesitation, thinking nothing of it, but of course sam looked up at him.

"you live with ranboo?" he deadpanned, trying to decide where techno stood with the tall boy.

techno tensed, hand slowly wrapping around the hilt of his sword. he was ready to fight now. "what do you want with him?"

"is he okay? i'm worried about him," sam said, eyes flicking to techno's hand. he held a hand up, gesturing that he had no ill intent. "listen... he showed up here to visit shortly after dream was locked up and then came back for a second visit about a week later and claimed he had never visited.

i had to turn him away because that's against the security code. he had been here and he said he hadn't been, but when i went back to check his contracts they were all edited... every single one of them was in some weird language and when i finally met with him at the community house he was frantic. i was mad originally, but then he was practically begging me to keep him out of the prison.

i promise i don't want to hurt him. then the other day sapnap said he delivered a message to him from dream and ranboo just walked off without saying a word. i haven't had a chance to check up on him and with everything going on i just- i just want to make sure he's okay. he's just a kid and he seemed so afraid..."

techno took in sam's words, sucking in a breath when he said sapnap delivered a message to ranboo. dream was finding ways to communicate with him without anyone knowing it was hurting ranboo. the anger that spiked in his chest only intensified as he realized that this was going on so much longer than he realized.

he was mad at dream. he was mad at himself.

how didn't he realize ranboo was hurting?

"he's okay. phil and i are taking care of him. he's family, which is why i'm here. i need to speak to dream," techno stared back at sam. if he got turned away now he would fight he way through this.

the voices were demanding blood and maybe just maybe he was willing to give.

"okay... read the contract in front of you and sign it then you'll have to put all your stuff in locker one. no items can be taken into the prison for security purposes," sam explained quietly. his big bad warden persona had seemingly faded away now that he and techno had a similar worry over ranboo.

the contract was fairly simple and techno signed it without reading any fine print. he just wanted to get in and then get back out again. the next few safety measures were easy. he put his stuff away, followed sam through a bunch of hallways, and finally he was stood across from pandora's box.

"when you get over there the divider between you and him will fall and then you can talk," sam explain, pointing for techno to stand on the bridge. "make sure you walk with the bridge or you'll get hurt and uh he hasn't been talking recently so..."

techno nodded, watching as the lava drained around them. the heat was incessant and he couldn't help but be a little satisfied that dream had to deal with it every single day. maybe that was sadistic, but it was true.

when the lava finally fell low enough techno made eye contact with dream, who's mask was haphazardly thrown across the room, seemingly out of anger. the blond seemed surprised to see techno, but as techno moved towards him on the platform he didn't shy away. he stood right in the same place next to his clock.

it wasn't until techno was safely across, the bridge had receded, and the lava had flowed back down that the divider between them fell. now techno had full access to dream, which was probably a mistake on sam's part, but the warden didn't know that.

techno stared at dream, slowly stepping closer to him. he looked smaller now, clearly having lost weight since he started his stay in the prison. whatever sam was feeding him wasn't what he normally ate and he clearly wasn't working out.

"i'd say it's good to see you again, but that'd be lying," techno commented, watching as dream's expression changed to one of confusion. he clearly didn't know about techno and ranboo's brotherly relationship.

"after ranboo told me you were locked up here i figured i'd get a letter calling in that favor, but i think you're going to need it to beg for mercy," techno leaned back against the wall across from dream.

the typically masked man tensed at the mention of ranboo and techno suddenly knew everything he had heard was true. dream was inside ranboo's head somehow. somehow someway he was messing with ranboo. "so here's how this is going to go dream. you're going to leave ranboo alone or you're going to die."

"sam won't let me die," dream said, voice raspy and pathetic. it was clear he hadn't spoken in a long time, probably out of protest for some ungodly reason, but techno didn't care about that. he only had one goal in mind. he only wanted ranboo's safety.

"and what do you think will happen faster? me killing you or sam getting in here to stop me?" techno asked, stepping closer to dream. he knew sam was watching on the cameras and he knew he had to make his move fast or it wasn't going to work.

fear flashed across dream's face because he knew in his current state he couldn't fight techno. his failing mental state had caused his physical health to deteriorate along with it and he was in absolutely no condition to fight someone as strong as techno was.

it only took a few seconds for techno to have dream pinned to the wall by his neck, leaving the usually masked man gasping for breath. "here's what's going to happen dream. you're not going to send any messages to ranboo through any visitors-"

dream was panicking now and he was slamming his fists into techno's chest, but the man wasn't budging. he barely flinched even as he pounded on his chest. the voices had taken over now.

"you aren't going to even think about ranboo-"

dream had switched tactics now, but techno had restrained one of his hands so he was left with only his left hand to desperately try to escape his grasp. now he was clawing at techno's eye and somehow the man wasn't flinching.

"if he enters the ender-state for a second-"

now dream had broken the skin around techno's eye and blood was dripping down his face, but it didn't stop the usually masked man. he kept going especially as he struggled to breath. he needed to do enough damage to get techno to let him go.

"i will be back here and i will slaughter you. he better not even hear your-"

dream finally slashed his nails against techno's actual eye and still he didn't budge. techno had truly let the voices take over and they had no regard for his personal safety.

_ranboo. ranboo. ranboo. protect ranboo. ranboo. protect ranboo._

"voice or i swear to god i will know and you will die, dream. are we understood?" techno growled, watching for dream's reaction.

dream nodded his head desperately needing to breath again. the last thing he wanted was to give up his only chance of escape, but he had no choice now. techno gave him no choice.

he didn't want to die. he couldn't die. if he died he wouldn't see sapnap again.

almost as soon as dream nodded techno let him go and watched as he fell to the floor. harsh sobs fell from dream's lips as he sucked in the breaths that had been restricted from him for what seemed like an eternity.

techno stepped back from him, finally registering the pain around his eye. he put his hand up to his face, flinching when he pulled it back and saw the blood on his fingers. it'd been a long time since the voices had gotten that much power over him and honestly he was surprised he hadn't killed dream anyway.

"techno back up!" sam shouted, finally getting inside the cell. he had his trident in hand and was putting himself between dream and techno, no doubt worried that techno would go in for the kill.

techno obeyed, backing up to the other side of the cell. his vision was so blurry and messed up, but he couldn't bring himself to care. dream looked absolutely pathetic on the ground as he wheezed and struggled to get his breath back.

"what was that?" sam demanded as he stared at techno, furious that he hadn't listened to the rules of the prison. first ranboo and then techno? what the hell was wrong with the arctic family?

techno looked between sam and techno and just smiled sadly, "he's manipulating ranboo. just here to make sure he doesn't do it again."

he knew how it looked. techno owed dream big time and now he had nearly killed him, but it didn't matter to techno. the people's opinion of him had never mattered to him. the things that did matter were the people waiting back home for him. they were the people who he'd do anything for.

"what are you talking about?" sam demanded, pressing the trident against techno's chest.

techno could see dream's smirk from where he stood, but he didn't care. sam wouldn't kill him, and if he locked him up he'd have to leave one of them out of maximum security. they were a danger to each other after all.

"that message dream sent ranboo... sent him into a state called the ender-state. it's a state where dream controls him, whispers in his ear to break him out of his cell," techno explained carefully.

at this point he couldn't see from his right eye at all because the blood from the wound had clouded it significantly, but he could see dream sitting himself up and getting ready to defend himself.

"sam, he's clearly- he's clearly deranged look at him," dream whispered. his throat was already bruising and it wouldn't surprise techno if it hurt him to speak at all.

the warden was silent for a long time before lowering the trident and stepping towards the exit bridge. he believed techno. "c'mon techno."

techno stared at him and nodded, silently following the warden to the bridge. as soon as the divider went up between them and dream he wiped the blood from his eye, trying to see if he had any vision left in it.

sam was quiet, but grabbed hold of techno as the bridge started moving to make sure the injured man wouldn't stray off the edges of it. it wasn't until the two of them had safely crossed that the warden spoke at all.

"did you really have to nearly kill him to get the point across?" sam asked softly, leading techno towards a door that was clearly labeled guards only. he was going to patch techno up.

"i would've killed him if he didn't agree to leave ranboo alone. i'd do anything for family, sam, anything."


End file.
